Earnings management among firms during the pre-SEC area: a Benford's Law analysis

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Accounting Historians Journal
Volume 38, Number 2
December 2011
pp. 145-170
Jeffrey J. Archambault
MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
and
Marie E. Archambault
MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AMONG FIRMS DURING THE PRE-SEC ERA:
A BENFORD’S LAW ANALYSIS
Abstract: This paper examines the existence of financial statement manipulation in the U.S. during a time period when many of the cur­rent motivations did not exist. The study looks for types of manipula­tions that would be motivated by the pre-SEC operating environment. To examine this issue, a sample of U.S. firms from the 1915 Moody’s Analyses of Investments is divided into industrial firms, railroads, and utilities. The railroad and utility companies faced rate regulation dur­ing this time period, providing incentives to manipulate the financial reports so as to maximize the rate received. Industrial firms were not regulated. These companies wanted to attract investors, motivating manipulations to increase income and net assets. To determine if manipulations are occurring, a Benford’s Law analysis is used. This analysis examines the frequency of numbers in certain positions within an amount to determine if the distribution of the numbers is similar to the pattern documented by Benford’s Law. Some manipula­tions consistent with expectations are found.
Companies face incentives to choose accounting policies and estimates to achieve certain goals. Managers may want to smooth earnings, maximize earnings, or meet analysts’ earnings forecasts. They may want to generate enough earnings to be able to issue dividends or to maintain their current or debt ra­tios to satisfy lending agreements. Earnings management is the process of choosing accounting alternatives to achieve desired accounting results. McKee [2005] stresses that earnings man­agement uses legal methods as opposed to fraud. Managers may also engage in economic earnings management by making oper­ating decisions designed to achieve desired accounting results.
Several authors have examined accounting policy choice to study earnings management. Many studies have focused on the choice of inventory cost-flow assumption [Morse and Richard­son, 1983; Hunt, 1985; Johnson and Dhaliwal, 1988; Lindahl, 1989]. In general, these studies have found that companies choose the LIFO inventory cost-flow assumption if they face